Thursday, 18 June 2009 | 08:19 AM It’s not who you know, but where you’re from 17th June 2009, 13:15 WST Jobseekers are finding the old adage that it is not what you know, but who you know does not necessarily apply in Australia — it is actually more about where you come from. A study by the Australian National University has found people with Chinese names are much more likely to be knocked back for a job interview than applicants with an Anglo-Saxon name. Researchers found Chinese job seekers also had less chance of being called back than Middle Eastern and Italian contenders. The study sent 4000 fake job applications for entry-level waiting, data entry, customer service and sales jobs. The fictitious employment seekers went to high school in Australia. The research found that overall, Chinese job seekers were called back 21 per cent of the time they applied for a job, compared with 22 per cent for Middle Eastern people and 26 per cent for indigenous applicants. 6/18/2009 It’s not who you know, but where you… thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID… 1/2
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Thursday, 18 June 2009 | 08:19 AM
It’s not who you know,but where you’re from17th June 2009, 13:15 WST
Jobseekers are finding the old adagethat it is not what you know, but whoyou know does not necessarily apply inAustralia — it is actually more aboutwhere you come from. A study by the Australian NationalUniversity has found people withChinese names are much more likely tobe knocked back for a job interviewthan applicants with an Anglo-Saxonname. Researchers found Chinese job seekersalso had less chance of being calledback than Middle Eastern and Italiancontenders. The study sent 4000 fake jobapplications for entry-level waiting,data entry, customer service and salesjobs. The fictitious employment seekers wentto high school in Australia. The research found that overall,Chinese job seekers were called back 21 per cent of the time they applied fora job, compared with 22 per cent for Middle Eastern people and 26 per centfor indigenous applicants.
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By comparison, Anglo-Saxon job seekers were called back 35 per cent of thetime, only slightly ahead of Italians on 32 per cent. “It’s consistent with the notion ... that a sudden influx of migration increasesprejudice,” researcher Andrew Leigh said. Professor Leigh said minorities would fare better in the labour market ifthey Anglicised their names. “It certainly suggests Anglicising your name increases the chance of gettinga job interview,” Professor Leigh said. When looking at individual job categories, the study found people with aMiddle Eastern background had to send 127 per cent more applications for awaiter’s position than Anglo-Saxon contenders. But the study also found Middle Eastern job seekers would fare better if theyapplied for work with a non-Anglo-Saxon employer or in an ethnicallydiverse neighbourhood.
Minority groups also were more likely to be discriminated against in Sydneythan in Brisbane or Melbourne. In Sydney, Chinese job seekers needed to send 92 per cent more jobapplications than those with an Anglo-Saxon background, while MiddleEastern applicants needed to post 80 per cent more resumes. But Professor Leigh said discrimination against certain groups may be moresubconscious than racist. The melting pot theory of ethnic groups eventually mixing in appears tohave helped Italians, who faced little discrimination, but it did not work forindigenous job seekers, the study found. CANBERRAAAP
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ABC Online
PM - Study finds employers shun minorities
[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2601101.htm]
PM - Wednesday, 17 June , 2009 18:30:00
Reporter: Emma Griffiths
MARK COLVIN: An unusual experiment on Australian employers has led researchers toconclude that bosses are much more likely to offer a job interview to applicants with AngloSaxon names.
The ANU economists sent out fake CV's, all with the same characteristics except the name andfound those called, for instance "Betty Japananga", "Mario Bianchi", or "Bilal Kasir" were lesslikely to get a call-back about the job.
Employer groups have reacted angrily.
Emma Griffiths reports.
EMMA GRIFFITHS: At Auburn town hall today in Sydney's west, job seekers rolled uplooking for advice. The careers expo had been organised by Auburn Diversity Services, amigrant resource centre trying to address an estimated local unemployment rate of about 10 percent.
ELENA BERROCAL-CAPDEVILLA: There was a parade of people going in and aroundand asking and taking the leaflets, and thinking, and you know, it's extremely difficult for peopleto find a job.
EMMA GRIFFITHS: The centre's executive officer Elena Berrocal-Capdevilla has personalexperience of the frustrations of job knock-backs faced by non-Anglo Saxon applicants.
ELENA BERROCAL-CAPDEVILLA: That I didn't have enough experience in this country,that I didn't have referees for instance from this country which was a big challenge. Cause evenif I had recommendation letters, those recommendation letters were in Spanish so it wasn't easyto convince employers that there were adequate and appropriate letters.
EMMA GRIFFITHS: Researchers at the Australian National University have found evidenceof substantial racial discrimination - right at the beginning of the recruitment process.
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Economist professor Andrew Leigh:
ANDREW LEIGH: We sent out over 4,000 fake CVs. What we did with the CVs was wechanged the name to denote ethnicity. So for example, one CV might carry the name BrianRobinson and another CV might carry the name Bilal Kasir and then that allows us to look atwhether or not hiring discrimination varies systematically with the ethnicity of the name on theCV.
EMMA GRIFFITHS: And the findings were stark.
ANDREW LEIGH: We find that there is substantial hiring discrimination. We find that if you'rean Indigenous applicant you need to put in 35 per cent more job applications to get the samenumber of call backs. A Chinese applicant 68 per cent more, Middle Eastern applicant 64 percent more, an Italian job applicant has to put in more applications but only 12 per cent morethan an Anglo-Saxon job applicant.
EMMA GRIFFITHS: So can we conclude from these findings that bosses in Australia areracist?
ANDREW LEIGH: So it's not clear whether our finding are driven by a small number ofemployers who are very strongly discriminating, or a large number of employers who arepotentially discriminating just subconsciously.
We have pretty good evidence out of sociology that a lot of discrimination is non-intentional; it'sjust that some names feel more common to employers, others feel a little odd, and so theperson doesn't get a call back.
EMMA GRIFFITHS: But one employer group doesn't believe there's any discriminationinvolved at all. The acting chief of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is GregEvans.
GREG EVANS: If you look across the Australian workforce. The Australian workforce ismade up of the same sort of ethnic backgrounds and diversity as wider Australian society and Ithink you know perhaps the researchers need to get out of the sheltered world of the universityquadrangle and actually see the diversity of ethnic backgrounds that are evident across allAustralian workplaces.
EMMA GRIFFITHS: Professor Andrew Leigh is convinced the study has measureddiscrimination because all of the applicant's characteristics were constant except the name. Andhe found discrimination across a range of jobs.
ANDREW LEIGH: We found the largest level of prejudice in the wait staff jobs which I thinkis consistent with wait staff employers thinking not only about their own discrimination but alsopotentially about how their customers might react to someone of a particularly ethnicity.
But we also find discrimination in data-entry jobs and that's not consistent with a customer-based discrimination story, given that we see discrimination in data entry that has to be
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employer based discrimination or co-worker-based discrimination.
EMMA GRIFFITHS: It's already difficult for people in these ethnic groups to get jobs knowingwhere the economy's going. What are you predicting for them?
ANDREW LEIGH: I would expect that it's going to be harder for everybody to find jobs in thecurrent economy. I wouldn't expect that the level of discrimination will increase but that the gapwill remain constant. In some sense, the labour market faced by a Chinese or a Middle Easternjob seeker in 2007 was tougher than the labour market that currently faces Anglo-Saxon jobseekers now.
So you could say that Anglo-Saxon job seekers are getting a taste of the sort of economy thatthe Chinese and Middle Eastern job seekers looked at in boom times.
MARK COLVIN: ANU economist Andrew Leigh speaking to Emma Griffiths.
Ethnic names hinder job seeking: reportPosted Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:37pm AEST Updated Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:50pm AEST
A new study has found job seekers with ethnic names areless likely to be considered for positions than those withAnglo-Saxon names.
Researchers at the Australian National University sent out more than 4,000 fake applications to employers, allcontaining the same qualifications but different names.
They found those with Anglo-Saxon names received more calls than those with Indigenous, Chinese, MiddleEastern or Italian names.
ANU economist Professor Andrew Leigh says it is not clear whether employers were being deliberately racist.
"It could be that a very small share of employers are behaving very badly," he said.
"Or possibly, a large share of employers are just subconsciously making the mistake of choosing the less qualifiedAnglo candidate over the more qualified Chinese candidate."
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has rejected the research findings.
ACCI director of economic policy Greg Evans denies employers are racist.
"We think its an unfair and misleading characterisation of Australian business," he said.
"Australian business actually values diversity amongst its workforce. and if you look at this is an elaborateexperiment but unfortunately its disproven in reality."
Minorities face job discrimination in Australia19 hours ago
SYDNEY (AFP) — Job seekers in Australia face a tougher time finding work if they have non-English sounding names, with Chinese and Middle Eastern applicants facing the worstdiscrimination, a study has found.
Researchers from Canberra's Australian National University (ANU) sent out 4,000 fake jobapplications in response to employment advertisements in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbaneusing ethnically distinct names.
They found Chinese applicants needed to send 68 percent more CVs than those with Englishnames to get the same number of interviews, with Middle Eastern job-seekers requiring anadditional 64 percent and Aborigines 35 percent.
The information about the applicants' qualifications for the advertised position was identical,leaving the name as the only variable for employers to decide whether to grant an interview.
"We found clear evidence of discrimination... job applicants find it easier to get an interview ifthey have an Anglo Saxon name," ANU researcher Alison Booth said.
The researchers suggested recently arrived migrant groups faced the most prejudice, pointingout that Italians -- well established since the 1940s -- needed to send only 12 percent moreapplications than Anglo Saxons.
Researcher Andrew Leigh admitted he was surprised the results pointed to widespread job-market discrimination in Australia, a country where one-in-four residents was born overseas.
He said the study showed major differences between Australian cities.
In Sydney, Chinese had to send out 92 percent more CVs than those with English names, withthe figure 80 percent for Middle Eastern applicants.
In Melbourne the figures dropped to 61 percent and 64 percent respectively, falling to 57 and 51percent in Brisbane.
"As a Sydney lad, I was confident its bosses would be the most tolerant and cosmopolitan ofthe three cities, while Brisbane employers would be a bunch of rednecks," Leigh told theAustralian newspaper.
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A FOREIGN or indigenous-sounding name gives people less chance of landing a job in Australia, a studyhas found. Unless your name sounds Italian and you're in Melbourne, in which case it can be an advantage.
Australian National University researchers Alison Booth, Andrew Leigh and Elena Vargonova sent out4000 fake job applications to employers advertising on the internet for entry-level hospitality, data entry,customer service and sales jobs, changing only the racial origin of the supposed applicants' names.
Applicants with Chinese names fared the worst, having only a one-in-five chance of getting asked in forinterviews, compared to applicants with Anglo-Saxon names whose chances exceeded one-in-three.
Typically a Chinese-named applicant would need to put in 68 per cent more applications than an Anglo-named applicant to get the same number of calls back. A Middle Eastern-named applicant needed 64 percent more, an indigenous-named applicant 35 per cent more and an Italian-named applicant 12 per centmore.
But the results varied by city. Sydney employers were generally more discriminatory than those inMelbourne or Brisbane, except when it came to indigenous names, where they were more accepting.
But only in Melbourne was there a type of non-Anglo name that was actually loved. Melbourne employerswere 7 per cent more likely to respond well to someone with an Italian name than they were to an Angloname.
Asked to guess why, Dr Leigh hastened to point out that the 7 per cent bias in favour of Italian-soundingnames was not statistically significant.
"But what it does allow you to say is that there is no statistically discernible discrimination against Italiannames in Melbourne. They are as well-regarded as Anglo names.
"This could be because Melbourne has a higher share of Italians than other Australian cities, and has had fora long time. Discrimination tends to be higher when you have a recent influx of arrivals, as Sydney has fromChina and the Middle East.
"Or it could be because many of the jobs we pretended to apply for were waiter and waitressing positions inbistros, bars, cafes and restaurants."
Asked whether the study had found that Australian employers were racist, Dr Leigh said it was clear theydiscriminated on the basis of the racial origin of applicants' names. "There is no other reasonableinterpretation of our results," he said.
The fake applications had made clear that the supposed job-seekers had completed secondary schooling inAustralia, making it unlikely that the employers had assumed the non-Anglo applicants could not speakEnglish.
A similar study carried out in the US found that applicants with African-American-sounding names neededto submit 50 per cent more applications than white applicants to get the same number of interviews,suggesting that Australian employers were more prejudiced, except when it came to Italians and Australianswith indigenous names.
Australian bosses are racist when it's time to hire6/18/2009 Australian bosses are racist when it's …
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THE key to nailing a dream job may be all in a name - your name.
New research has found job seekers with ethnic-sounding names have a harder time securing aninterview than their Anglo-Saxon colleagues.
Researchers from the Australian National University (http://www.anu.edu.au) sent more than 4000 fakeCVs to employers hunting for staff through job advertisements as part of a 2007 experiment.
Professor Alison Booth (http://econrsss.anu.edu.au/Staff/abooth/bio_ab.htm) said the researchersvaried just the names on CVs to take a gauge of "hiring discrimination" and found people with ethnicnames were less likely to be called up for an interview.
Job hunters with Anglo-Saxon names had a 35 per cent hit rate with employers in getting a phone callin response to their application. But aspiring workers from different backgrounds had to work morethan twice as hard in some instances to get a call back.
"To get the same number of interviews as an applicant with an Anglo-Saxon name, a Chineseapplicant must submit 68 per cent more applications, a Middle Eastern applicant must submit 64 percent more applications, an Indigenous applicant must submit 35 per cent more applications, and anItalian applicant must submit 12 per cent more applications," Professor Booth said.
In Brisbane, the research suggested Chinese job hunters faced the greatest discrimination, having tosend out more than double the number of applications to get the same results as their Anglo-Saxoncounterparts. Italian workers fared better in Melbourne and Sydney but in Brisbane were forced topost almost a third more applications to get the equivalent number of interviews.
The level of discrimination also varied between job types with hospitality employers much less likelyto give interviews to Middle Eastern and Chinese workers.
Chinese women also had a harder time securing interviews than Chinese men. That trend wasreversed for Italian women, who had a better success rate than the opposite sex.
Among the last names surveyed were Rosso, Ferrari and Romano (Italian), Chen, Huang and Chang(Chinese), Kassir and Baghdadi (Middle Eastern) and Tjungarrayi (Indigenous). They were pittedagainst Anglo-Saxon last names including Abbott, Adams and Johnson.
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Sorry Hassan, the job goes to AndrewBY EMMA MACDONALD EDUCATION REPORTER18/06/2009 7:15:00 AMJennifers, Andrews and Sarahs are far more likely to find a job than Hassans, Xius and Luigis, according to one of the largestdiscrimination studies ever conducted.
Australian National University economists have just issued the findings of their 212-year study in which they sent out more than 5000fake curriculum vitaes, using a variety of Anglo, Middle Eastern, indigenous, Chinese and Italian names.
The CVs responded to online jobs advertisements in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The report found Chinese and Middle Eastern job-seekers were subject to the highest rates of discrimination. According to the report,Does Racial and Ethnic Discrimination Vary Across Minority Groups, written by Professor Alison Booth, Professor Andrew Leighand researcher Elena Varganova, to get the same number of job interviews as someone with an Anglo-Saxon name, a Chinese applicantmust submit 68 per cent more applications.
Middle Eastern applicants must submit 64 per cent more applications, Indigenous applicants 35 per cent more applications, and Italian12 per cent more applications.
More on the study in today's Canberra Times
comments
Date: Newest first | Oldest firstGood to see the time travel research at the ANU is progressing so well. Posted by 212 on 18/06/2009 10:41:18 AMWhy compare the job prospects of ethnic minorities with another ethnic minority (namely Anglo SAXONS)? Australia is due toconvict and gold rush immigrants a largely Anglo Celtic culture. Fancy taking the patron Saint of Scotlands name for your SAXONexemplar!!! I have witnessed a cultural minister named McDonald claiming to be white anglo SAXON male (makes the Celtic bloodboil). It is largely due to proffesional people like yourself likening our Anglo-Celtic culture (much more like that of Scotland and Irelandthan England) to Anglo Saxon that damages our cultural self image. yours Not a Bloody Saxon Posted by braveheart on 18/06/2009 11:25:21 AM
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Herald Sun (/heraldsun)
JOBSEEKERS with non Anglo-Saxon names find it harder to score interviews - unless theyare Italians in Melbourne.
After decades of post-war migration, Melbourne bosses cry "Pronto!" to Italian applicants ahead of allothers
Research at the Australian National University uncovered widespread discrimination amongemployers.
People with Chinese-sounding names racked up the most knockbacks. And Sydney bosses weremore prejudiced than their Melbourne counterparts.
Researchers sent 4000 bogus CVs in response to job ads in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane forjunior positions in table-waiting, data entry, customer service and sales.
The only difference in the CVs were the applicant's name - varied along ethnic lines to give anestimate of "hiring discrimination".
Bosses called back Anglo-Saxon jobseekers 35 per cent of the time - compared with 21 per cent ofChinese, 22 per cent of Middle Eastern, 26 per cent of indigenous and 32 per cent of Italians.
To get the same number of interviews as an applicant with an Anglo-Saxon name, the study found aChinese jobseeker would have to apply for 68 per cent more jobs.
Likewise, a Middle Eastern person would have to put in 64 per cent more applications, an indigenousAustralian 35 per cent more and an Italian 12 per cent.
Broken down across the three capital cities, Melbourne bosses were generally less discriminatory.
However, Melbourne came out worst in the case of indigenous applicants, who must apply for 48 percent more jobs - compared with 41 per cent in Brisbane and 25 per cent in Sydney.
It's a brighter picture for Italians in Melbourne. Compared with "Anglos", they need to apply for 7 percent fewer jobs to get an interview - the only ethnic group and city to record such a result.
Researcher Andrew Leigh said it proved the melting pot theory of ethnic groups eventually mixing.
"Melbourne was the main destination for the wave of post-war Italian migrants," Prof Leigh said.
"This is a good news story in the sense that it tells us the melting pot works - it just takes a long timeto boil."
Overall, Prof Leigh said ethnic minorities would enjoy better strike rates if they Anglicised theirnames.
In one instance, Sydney woman Ragda Ali completed a TAFE course and received no calls onmultiple job applications. But her luck changed when she changed her name to Gabriella Hannah.
"I applied for the same jobs and got a call 30 minutes later," she told researchers.
Prof Leigh said: "It suggests Anglicising your name increases the chance of getting a job interview."
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Chinese jobseekers need to apply for 68 per centmore jobs - study
CAIRO — In Australia,job seekers with ethnicnames find it muchharder to get a jobthan those with Anglo-Saxon names,according to a newacademic study into jobdiscrimination.
"Job applicants find iteasier to get aninterview if they havean Anglo-Saxon name,"concluded theexperiment study conducted by the AustralianNational University.
Researchers sent 4000 fake resumes usingChinese, Middle Eastern, Italian, indigenousand Anglo-Saxon ethnically distinct names,responding to online jobs ads in Sydney,Melbourne and Brisbane.
"By varying the names on the CVs, we wereable to estimate precisely the extent of hiringdiscrimination," says economist Andrew Leigh,one of the study authors.
The study found employers much more likely tooffer a job interview to applicants with AngloSaxon names than those with foreign names ornames referring to ethnic minorities.
"Because all other characteristics are heldconstant, we can be sure that we are reallymeasuring discrimination."
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The results showed a Chinese and a MiddleEastern must submit 68 and 64 percent moreapplications than an applicant with an Anglo-Saxon name to get the same number ofinterviews.
International reports have warned that racismis rife in all walks of life in Australia, a countrywhere one quarter of the population was bornoverseas.
A hard-hitting report by the Human Rights andEqual Opportunity Commission in 2007 foundthat racism became a part of all Australia'smajor sports and was "prevalent" amongprofessionals, coaches, spectators and fans.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of RacialDiscrimination said in its 2005 that acts andincitement of racial hatred exists in mostAustralian States.
Sorry Ali, Hi Hannah
The study cited the story of Ragda Ali as a clearcase of employers' prejudice.
"I applied for many junior positions where noexperience in sales was needed – even thoughI had worked for two years as a junior salesclerk," said the Sydney resident.
After applying for every job she can find andgetting no reply, Ali suspected that herdistinctively Middle Eastern name may be theproblem.
"I didn’t receive any calls so I decided to legallychange my name to Gabriella Hannah," sherecalled.
Expectedly, the job road for the new Ms.Hannah was much easier.
"I applied for the same jobs and got a call 30minutes later."
The researchers further expanded theirexperiment to find out whether the kind ofdiscrimination in the job market was found inthe general population.
"In one experiment, we mailed letters toseveral thousand households, to see whetherthey returned them or put them in the bin,"said Professor Leigh.
"We found that letters were slightly less likelyto be returned if they were addressed to non-
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Anglo people."
The study concluded that the old maxim hailingAustralia for its ability to absorb new migrantsinto its social fabric may be nothing more thana myth.
"The Australian melting pot may not be sosuccessful after all."
Read the full report
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@ ROMBy TERRA on 2009-06-19 10:32 (GMT)
I DON'T KNOW IF YOU TRAVEL IN YOUR LIFE, IF YOU'VE BEEN TO BALI, YOU'LCHANGE, THAT EVERYWHERE IS FULL OF AUSTRALIANS. AUSTRALIANS CONTIIN BALI EVEN AFTER THIS REGRETTABLE AND SAD EVENT. THEY HAVE NOT BLINDONESIA FOR THE ACT OF A FEW.YOU ARE NOT AUSTRALIAN AND DON'T SPEAK IN THEIR NAME.
FOR THE REST :
EVERYWHERE, THERE ARE GOOD AND BAD PEOPLE BUT AUSTRALIANS ARE MOANOTHER THING, AUSTRALIA IS FULL OF AUSTRALIAN OF CHINESE AND OTHEARE THE MOST RACISTS, SO DON'T BLAME BLINDLY ALL AUSTRALIANS.
RidicilousBy The Concerned One on 2009-06-19 08:37 (GMT)
To Rom
Rom...are u suggesting..that employers should be wary of hiring people cusaffiliation? do you know what the term'' DISCRIMINATION'' means? How ridicalso side line the vetnamese people when you went to war in Vietnam? sucridicilous...oh by the way...Muslims dont blame the entire Australian people iraq.
remeber the Bali Bombing?By rom on 2009-06-19 08:11 (GMT)
At the Bali Bombing of 2002 hundreds of its victims were Aussies.
Dou you muslims believe, the Australians have forgotten that. And all the tethat could have been thwarted before they were carried out? In such circumthat recruiters think twice and thrice before contacting an applicant carrying
6/20/2009 Aussie Jobs…Sorry Ali, Welcome Han…
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T
Printed June 18, 2009 12:09am AEST
Bosses prefer to interview AnglosStephen Lunn, Social affairs writer | June 18, 2009
Article from: The Australian
EMPLOYERS are far less likely to interview a person with a Chinese, Middle Eastern orAboriginal name for a job even if their CV is identical to someone with an Anglo-Saxonname.
And Sydney bosses discriminate more than those in Melbourne or Brisbane, a new study using 4000fake CVs reveals.
Australian National University professor of social sciences Andrew Leigh sent out 4000 fictitiousresumes to employers in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne looking for entry-level workers in thehospitality, data entry, customer service and sales area.
The CVs were identical apart from made-up names indicating Italian, indigenous, Chinese or MiddleEastern heritage, ensuring responses purely measuring discrimination, Professor Leigh said. Allbogus applicants had a high school education in Australia.
The results were conspicuously different depending on whether the CV bore surnames such asMitchell, Chang, Hariri, Tipungwuti or Bianchi.
"To get the same number of interviews as an applicant with an Anglo-Saxon name, a Chineseapplicant must submit 68per cent more applications, a Middle Eastern applicant must submit 64 percent more, an indigenous applicant 35 per cent more and an Italian applicant 12per cent more,"Professor Leigh said.
Sydney bosses were less likely to give jobseekers with Chinese and Middle Eastern names a go thanthe other two capital cities, but more likely to grant an interview to a person with an indigenousname.
Chinese jobseekers needed to send 92 per cent more job applications than those with an Anglo-Saxonbackground to secure an interview in Sydney, while Middle Eastern applicants needed to post 80 percent more resumes.
In Brisbane it was 57 per cent and 51 per cent respectively.
"As a Sydney lad, I was confident its bosses would be the most tolerant and cosmopolitan of the threecities, while Brisbane employers would be a bunch of rednecks. It was, in fact, the other wayaround," Professor Leigh said.
But Italians in Melbourne can take heart. The study shows they are more likely to be offered aninterview than someone with an Anglo-Saxon name.
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Di Aussie, Nama Timur Sulit Cari Kerja
Di Australia, pemilik nama etnis timur cenderung sulit mencari kerja ketimbang mereka dengan nama ras Anglo-Saxon. Hal itu diungkapkan oleh studi akademis terbaru tentang diskriminasi kerja yang dilakukan ole AustralianNational University (ANU).
"Bila pelamar kerja memiliki nama ras kulit putih, mereka lebih mudah masuk tahap wawancara," bunyi laporanpenelitian tersebut. Peneliti melakukan studi dengan cara mengirim 400 berkas lamaran palsu menggunakannama Cina, Timur Tengah, Italia, warga asli, dan nama-nama Anglo-Saxon dengan tipe etnis berbeda. Lamaranitu dikirim berdasar lowongan online yang diiklankan di Sydney, Melbourne, dan Brisbane.
Dengan meragamkan nama-nama di dalam CV, kami dapat memperkirakan secara pasti, bagaimana besarnyatingkat diskriminasi pekerjaan," ujar pakar ekonomi sekaligus penulis utama penelitian, Andrew Leigh.
Studi menemukan, para pemberi kerja cenderung suka menawarkan wawancara kepada pelamar dengan namaAnglo-Saxon, ketimbang mereka yang memiliki nama asing, atau mengacu pada etnis minoritas di Australia."Karena semua karateristik kita gunakan dengan konstan, kami dapat pastikan, kami benar-benar mengukurtingkat diskriminasi," ujar Andrew.
Hasil menunjukkan, nama Cina dan Timur tengah sedikit--bila tak bisa dibilang tak ada--menerima panggilanwawancara kerja. Pemilik dua nama etnis tersebut harus mengirimkan aplikasi 68 persen lebih banyak daripemilik nama Anglo-Saxon, untuk mendapat jumlah panggilan wawancara yang sama.
Studi yang dilaporkan secara internasional itu mengingatkan, rasisme adalah kekerasan tak dinginkan dan ada dihampir aspek kehidupan di Negeri Kangguru, negara di mana seperempat populasi dilahirkan di tanah asing.
Laporan memukul telak oleh Komisi Hak Asasi dan Persamaan Kesempatan pada 2007, menemukan jika rasismemenjadi bagian besar dari olah raga utama di Austraia, dan memiliki tingkat kehadiran tinggi di kalanganprofesional, pelatih, penonton, dan juga penggemar.
Kemudian, Komite PBB Eliminasi Diskriminasi Ras mengatakan, dalam laporan 2005, bahwa aksi dan pengobarankebencian rasial ada di hampir seluruh negara bagian Australia.
Halo Hannah, Oh Maaf Ali,
Studi ANU, selain memberi angka statistik, memaparkan beberapa kisah para pencari kerja, salah satunya milikseorang Muslim, migran asal sebuah negara di Timur Tengah, Ragda Ali. Cerita Ali adalah satu kasus nyataprasangka negatif para pemberi kerja
"Saya melamar untuk banyak posisi junior, dengan syarat tanpa pengalaman di penjualan, meski saya sendiri
6/22/2009 Republika Online
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telah bekerja sebagai petugas administrasi junio selama dua tahun," tutur penduduk kota Sydney tersebut.
Setelah melamar setiap lowongan pekerjaan yang ada, ia tidak pernah mendapat balasas. Ragda pun curiga,nama timur tengahnya mungkin menjadi masalah.
"Saya tidak pernah mendapat panggilan satu pun," akunya. "Saya pun memutuskan mengganti nama denganproses legal menjadi Gabriella Hanna," kenang Ragda.
Sepertia yang telah ia dua, jalan mencari pekerjaan bagi Nona Hannah baru, menjadi lebih mudah. "Sayamengirim untuk pekerjaan yang sama, dan saya mendapat panggilan 30 menit kemudian," tuturnya.
Para peneliti, lebih lanjut melebarkan studi untuk menemukan apakah diskriminasi di pasar lapangan kerja jugaberlaku pada masalah umum lain. Dalam satu eksperimen, mereka mengirim surat-surat ke ribuan rumahtangga.
"Tujuan kami untuk melihat apakah pos akan mengembalikan surat-surat itu, atau membuangnya ke tempatsampah," ujar Andrew yang juga seorang guru besar di ANU. Para peneliti menemukan surat-surat tersebutsepertinya cenderung dikembalikan jika alamatnya ditujukan kepada orang-orang non-Anglo.
Studi tersebut menyimpulkan jika slogan tua Australia bahwa negara itu memiliki kemampuan menyerap budayalain dan migran ke dalam kehidupan sosial hanya sekedar mitos belaka. "Anggapan Austrlia sebagai tempatpeleburan budaya, tidak sepenuhnya benar," ujar Andrew. (iol/itz)
6/22/2009 Republika Online
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A study has found people w ith ethnic names find ittougher to get job interview s (Reuters)
'Ethnic names' struggle in job search17 June 2009 | 15:07
New research by the Australian NationalUniversity shows job applicants with 'ethnic'names find it tougher to get an interview thanthose with Anglo-Saxon names.
New research by the Australian National Universityshows job applicants with 'ethnic' names find ittougher to get an interview than those with Anglo-Saxon names.
Economists at the university, Professors AlisonBooth and Andrew Leigh, disseminated 4000 fakeCVs to job advertisers in Brisbane, Melbourne andSydney to test the level of discrimination.
Researchers found that applicants with Chinesenames were more likely to be knocked back than applicants with Anglo-Saxon names.
Job seekers with Italian, Middle Eastern and Indigenous names also had a lower chance of being called in foran interview.
All the fake CVs, regardless of the ethnicity of the names, stated the applicant had studied in Australia.
"By varying the names on the CVs, we were able to estimate precisely the extent of hiring discrimination,"Professor Booth says.
"Because all other characteristics are held constant, we can be sure that we are actually measuringdiscrimination."
Professor Leigh says minorities would fare better in the labour market if they Anglicised their names.
"It certainly suggests Anglicising your name increases the chance of getting a job interview," Prof Leigh toldreporters in Canberra.
Watch on SBS TV 6.30pm nightly, 9.30pm Mon-Fri.Or log-on to www.sbs.com.au/news to watch video on demand.
6/18/2009 World News Australia - 'Ethnic names…
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Yuko NarushimaJune 18, 2009WHAT'S in a name? An added difficulty in getting a job if it's not Anglo-Saxon, research by the AustralianNational University shows.
A study into hiring discrimination sent 4000 fake curriculum vitae to employers in Sydney, Melbourne andand Brisbane, changing only the names of the applicants. It found call-back rates were higher for applicantswith an Anglo-Saxon name.
"Sydney has the highest level of labour market discrimination for Chinese and Middle Easterners," one of thereport's authors, economist Andrew Leigh, said. "There may be other stages of discrimination at theinterview itself and in the workplace but we can't observe that."
Common indigenous, Middle Eastern, Italian and Chinese names were substituted across fictional templatesto measure employer bias. Other factors such as qualifications, experience and gender were kept equal.
In Sydney a person named Fatima Hariri or Ping Lee had to apply for twice as many jobs as a LisaRobinson to secure the same number of interviews.
People with distinctively Aboriginal names fared somewhat better. For every 20 job applications sent byAnglo-Saxon sounding counterparts, indigenous people had to fire off an extra five. Italian jobseekers hadto send an additional three.
Discrimination was more acute in certain industries, the report found. For entry-level jobs in data entry,customer service, sales and waiting tables, employment prospects were worst for ethnic-sounding waitingstaff.
Job prospects were particularly bad if the would-be waiter had a Middle Eastern name. They would have toput in 127 per cent more applications for the same number of interviews.
"That's potentially because being a waiter requires the most customer interaction," Professor Leigh said."You might imagine an employer who was not themselves discriminatory but who was worried theircustomers were."
However, findings for data entry showed employers were not blameless. Again, Chinese and MiddleEastern-sounding job applicants were worst hit.
A man named Hu Chen for example would need to apply for 182 per cent of the jobs someone calledMartin Johnson, the report found.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
Tom, Dick or Anna beat Hu to the job6/18/2009 Tom, Dick or Anna beat Hu to the job
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Tuesday, 23 June 2009 | 04:00 AM
Name shame inimperfect world forjob-seekers22nd June 2009, 15:00 WST
Unsurprisingly, the world is not perfect.You know it’s not, I know it’s not, andeven my dog has worked out things arecrook when she can’t get a walk in themorning. But the way some economists, policy-makers and politicians have looked atthe unfolding global recession and theresponse to it over the past two yearsyou could be forgiven for believing theyactually lived in a world of perfection. There’s a name for this perfection — theefficient markets hypothesis. Treasury Department second-in-chargeDavid Gruen, in a speech last weekabout the global recession, touched onthis hypothesis, which has driven muchof the economics profession over thepast three decades or so. It’s been the policy framework for manygovernments’ approach to theireconomic policies.
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The drive towards self-regulation ofmarkets, of governments retreatingfrom heavy-handed intercession fromareas like finance, was because of thetheory that such markets don’t needany interference. But, as you might have noticed, thathasn’t worked out quite so well. “As the crisis has demonstrated, relyingon financial market firms to self-regulate turns out to be the economicequivalent of letting children decide their own diets,” Dr Gruen said. As he put it, there is a problem with the individuals supposedly inhabitingthe theoretical world at the heart of the hypothesis. “These individuals are assumed to be far-sighted and rational, and tounderstand, in extraordinary detail, the economic world in which they liveand make decisions,” he said It also means that the financial markets they operate work perfectly. Thereare no problems like the ones we’ve seen in the past couple of years, no herd-like behaviour, no big swings in confidence or pessimism. “It’s as if, as the Titanic was sailing into iceberg-infested waters, those withthe requisite skills and training to warn of the impending danger wereinstead hard at work, in a windowless cabin, perfecting the design of shiphulls for a world without icebergs,” Dr Gruen explained. Now theimperfection at a global market level is for all of us to see. But what aboutdown at the shopfront level? Well, an interesting study by three AustralianNational University economists has highlighted there can be costs at thebusiness level by human imperfection in simply picking staff. We all know ofcases where a person has been put in a job and they just weren’t up to it. Butthe ANU study examined the bias of management when it came toemploying those staff. The economists sent 4000 fake CVs that wereidentical except for one crucial thing — the name. Twenty per cent of theCVs had a traditional Anglo-Saxon name like Jennifer Abbott and PhillipMitchell. But another 20 per cent carried indigenous names, another 20percent went by Middle-Eastern names, another 20 per cent by Italian andthe rest by Chinese. The study’s main findings? That Australian employers,
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when given the same resumes for the same job, were much more likely toring for an interview with a candidate with an Anglo-Saxon name. An applicant with an Italian name would have to put up 12 per cent moreapplications to get the same number of callbacks for a job than someonewith an Anglo-Saxon name. For indigenous-named candidates, it was 35 per cent more applications. ForMiddle-Eastern names, 64 per cent more, and for Chinese-sounding names,68 per cent. The study focused on four types of jobs. A Middle-Eastern male name trying for a wait-staff job would have to put up127 per cent more applicants for that position than an Anglo-Saxon name. You could mount an argument that as a waiter, with the position in directcustomer contact, then the prospective employer might have a fear abouttheir new employee “scaring” the clientele. But how do you explain that a Chinese-sounding name had to put up 82 percent more applications for a data-entry job that had no public contactresponsibilities? This bias towards Anglo-Saxon names is not unique to Australia. Similar studies in the US have found the same “in-built” racist tendencies ofemployers over long periods, split largely along black and white lines. Not even the ANU report argues there is widespread explicit racism in thedecision-making process of business people when it comes to employment(although that is always a chance). They believe much of it is a subconscious bias over which we might havelittle control. There’s a way of testing your own in-built biases. One of the report’s authors, Andrew Leigh, who is also one of the best youngeconomists in the country, admitted he had taken the “implicit association
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test” on many occasions, and though his bias tendencies were reducing overtime, they were still there. So why is this important? Put it this way. The ANU study was conducted during 2007 asunemployment fell to near record lows. It suggests that employers were prepared to go with a prospective staffmember based solely on the name at the top of the CV and not the quality ofthe candidate. How many potential great waiters or sales staff or even data entry employeeswere not given a chance based simply on name? Certainly it would appearthe business may have cost themselves money. Ultimately, it shows that evenat this level, when given a bunch of CVs, there is an imperfection in thedecision-making process. So trying to argue at the macroeconomic level thatmarkets operate perfectly . . . . well, that argument is a long way short ofperfection.
To test your inherent biases, go to http://iat.org.au/
SHANE WRIGHT
Have your say
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Tom, Dick or Hariri: unfamiliar names miss out on Australia's jobsPosted on : 2009-07-09 | Author : DPA News Category : Australasia
Sydney - Immigrants everywhere complain about having to drive taxis despitehaving the paper qualifications for better paid jobs. Poor English largelyexplains the discrepancy in Australia, according to a recent survey bydemographer Bob Birrell of Melbourne's Monash University.
But poor communication skills is not the whole story. A new Australian NationalUniversity (ANU) study shows employers discriminating against those who don'thave Anglo-Saxon-sounding names.
"To get the same number of interviews as an applicant with an Anglo-Saxonname, a Chinese applicant must submit 68 per cent more applications," ANUeconomist Andrew Leigh said.
Leigh has just published his results after sending out 4,000 resumes toemployers who had advertised for restaurant staff, data-entry people andopenings for other semi-skilled workers.
"What we did with the CVs was we changed the name to denote ethnicity," heexplained. "So, for example, one CV might carry the name Brian Robinson andanother CV might carry the name Bilal Kasir and then that allows us to look atwhether or not hiring discrimination varies systematically with the ethnicity ofthe name on the CV."
The most discriminated against were Chinese.
"It did surprise me," Professor Leigh said. "My stereotype had been that youwould discriminate in favour of them (Chinese) rather than against. They arehardworking and conscientious."
One explanation could be that Chinese are recent migrants and the big influxcould raise fears - as right-wing politician Pauline Hanson deliberately did in1996 - that Australia is being "swamped by Asians."
Leigh found that Middle Eastern applicants had to submit 64 per cent moreresumes, Aborigines had to send in 35 per cent more and Italian applicants 12per cent more (the Italians faced less discrimination because the big migrationscame in the immediate post-war period and in the 1950s).
The simple conclusion from the study was that employers were discriminatingon the basis of race. "There is no other reasonable interpretation of ourresults."
But, as Leigh pointed out, "it's not clear whether our findings are driven by asmall number of employers who are very strongly discriminating or a largenumber of employers who are potentially discriminating just subconsciously."
In subconscious discrimination, Leigh explained, people make snap decisions onthe basis of familiarity. "A quick rule of thumb is that you know to run to thepeople with the same colour," he said.
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The ANU study deliberately allayed the fears of potential employers thatapplicants with foreign-sounding names would have poor English. None wasidentified as a new migrant; all had been through Australian high schools.
"It's possible you could still say that they would have inferior communicationsskills, but if you looked at the CV you couldn't conclude that," Leigh said.
It's not the first study to look at racism in Australia and find discrimination.
Sydney-based market research firm Crosby-Textor published a survey twoyears ago that showed Australians like best those people who lived a long wayaway or those who were near and shared a similar culture, language andhistory. The British were tops followed by New Zealanders and Americans. TheChinese were rated only half as nice as the British.
To put racism into context, Leigh said that Anglo-Saxon jobseekers are nowgetting a taste of the sort of economy that the Chinese and Middle Easternjobseekers faced before the recession. It was hard for them in the boom times- it's even harder now.
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Last Updated: July 12. 2009 8:10PM UAE / July 12. 2009 4:10PM GMT
Jamal Daoud, a Saudi-born Palestinian, has been unemployedfor three out of six years in Australia despite numerousqualifications. Ian Waldie for The National
Australian job market rife with racismPhil Mercer, Foreign Correspondent
SYDNEY // A university study has uncovered widespread racial discrimination againstMiddle-Eastern job seekers in Australia.
In a far-reaching experiment, academics in Canberra have found that Australiancompanies are far less likely to interview a prospective employee with a Middle-Eastern,Chinese, aboriginal or Italian name than a white, Anglo-Saxon applicant with the samequalifications.
Researchers sent out 4,000 fictitious resumes in response to job advertisements forentry-level positions in hospitality, sales, data entry and customer service in Sydney,Melbourne and Brisbane.
“My co-authors and I were interested in trying to look at the extent of ethnic and racialdiscrimination in Australia,” said Andrew Leigh, an economics professor at theAustralian National University.
The fake resumes state that all candidates had attended secondary school in Australia and had the same work experience. Only thenames differed.
The results have shown that finding employment can be a frustrating battle for ethnic applicants, regardless of their credentials, with jobhunters from a Middle-Eastern background having to submit 64 per cent more resumes than their Anglo-Saxon counterparts to securean interview.
“It is consistent with some theories that talk about the melting pot taking a long time to simmer,” Mr Leigh added. “If we had done thisstudy in 1950s Australia, it might well have been that there was a lot more discrimination against Italian migrants who were then freshoff the boat. It may be now that Middle Eastern and Chinese applicants who have arrived more recently are suffering more racialdiscrimination.”
The outcome of the study has surprised the research team, which had expected indigenous Australians to be worse off as they alreadysuffer chronic disadvantage in so many other areas, such as health and education.
The level of prejudice in the workplace has varied from city to city, with Sydney belying its reputation as an engaging cosmopolitanhub. It was the least tolerant of the major centres and the worst place for Middle-Eastern and Chinese job-seekers.
“A big influx of migrants doesn’t make people more tolerant, it makes them in the short-run less tolerant,” Mr Leigh said.
Jamal Daoud, 42, a Saudi-born Palestinian who moved to Australia in 1996, has felt the full force of religious and racial bigotry in thelabour market.
“There was a customer service job at an Australian airport, and they were impressed with my resume but they were suspicious of myname,” said Mr Daoud, who was initially called on the telephone to assess his suitability for an interview but the conversation endedabruptly when he said that he had been born in Saudi Arabia.
“It comes to their mind that Muslims and Saudis who are around aeroplanes will be repeating the 11th of September without knowingthat the majority of Muslims are condemning such action,” Mr Daoud said.
“The rejection made me very depressed. We hoped that with time things will get better, but we discovered now it is getting worse.”
“I am starting to feel that I am besieged. This is daily life for us. There are highly qualified people who are working in security, as a taxidriver or in a convenience store and I meet such people every day.”
For three of the past six years this well-skilled Muslim migrant has been unemployed and he is currently holding down a low-payingposition in the public service.
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Mr Daoud is understandably upset that Australia has not seen fit to harness his talents. His qualifications include a bachelor’s degreein veterinary medicine, a postgraduate certificate in politics and a diploma in teaching English as a second language.
Others looking to escape the unemployment queue in Australia have changed their names to bury their Islamic heritage; a man calledMohammed became Michael to get a start in real estate, while another, Bilal, became Billy to secure opportunities in the financeworld.
“It is common. There are people who are urging us to change our names so that we can hide our real identity and culture. That way wewould be less likely to be targeted by discrimination,” Mr Daoud said.
Business groups do not believe that such problems are widespread and have disputed the findings of the Australian NationalUniversity study.
“We were surprised because any routine observation of Australian workplaces right across the economy shows the diversity that isseen in Australian society,” said Greg Evans, the acting chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“Australian employers value that diversity and they recruit people on a non-discriminatory basis based on who is most appropriate tofill certain roles.”
Although Mr Leigh and his fellow researchers have unearthed a worrying seam of prejudice, they are hopeful it might just beunconscious discrimination where employers have lazily picked Anglo-Saxon names they feel familiar with, shortcomings that can beaddressed through education and greater awareness.
“While we can’t fully rule out that there is something very sinister going on here,” Mr Leigh said. “I’m more optimistic that people aremaking mistakes rather than being out-and-out nasty.”
